N like fog over San Francisco Bay, but Novell is undergoing a change. Capitalizing on the acquisition of Ximian and SuSE, the company is banking on
its years of experience and leadership in file- and print-sharing services, as well as on its NOS expertise, to bring Linux-powered solutions to the
data center. Its aim is to make over its image from a NetWare company to a leading provider of Linux and Linux-based products.
Novell’s first move is the release of Novell Nterprise Linux Services 1.0. NNLS is a fully integrated suite of programs providing file, print,
management, messaging and identity services, as well as virtual office functionality. I tested a beta version of NNLS 1.0 in our NWC Inc. business
applications lab in Green Bay, Wis., and was pleased with it.
I installed NNLS on a Dell 2650 dual 2.6-GHz Xeon running Red Hat AS 2.1. Installation was painless, and services were ready for configuration within
half an hour. NNLS configuration can be accomplished remotely using a browser: Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher, or Netscape 7.02 or higher.
Included with NNLS are preactivated DirXML drivers for Active Directory, eDirectory and NT Domains. I chose to configure NNLS as a primary tree for
NWC Inc., rather than designate it as a secondary tree under our Active Directory server. This let me toy with NNLS’ DirXML and, later, identity
services to integrate with Active Directory. (Alternatively, you could integrate NNLS with existing directory implementations during installation.)
The iManager 2.0.1 component lets you manage every aspect of NNLS from a tree-based, object hierarchy. Supporting HP-UX, Linux, NetWare, Solaris and
Windows, iManager installs as a collection of Java servlets running on Apache/ Tomcat, which is included with the base product. I easily created
objects, including users, groups and other familiar eDirectory-based objects, from within the interface.
Link: nwc.com
Category:
- Linux
